I met Karina Fabian over the Internet many years ago when she was working on her first anthology. Later, when she decided to edit Infinite Space, Infinite God, I submitted two stories, one co-written with my writing partner, Ken Pick. After a lot of good advice on editing and revision work, she accepted Canticle of the Wolf and Mask of the Ferret, the latter a finalist for a WSFA award. In fact, the entire anthology won a 2007 EPPIE award!

There are three things I learned very quickly about Karina:

She is a wonderful gem of an editor. That she works with Ken and me not once, but twice, clearly demonstrates she's a saint. (Look for Dyads from Ken and me in Infinite Space, Infinite God 2)

She is an absolute genius when it comes to marketing.

And she's an awesome writer on her own as well.

You can learn much more about Karina and her wonderful literary worlds here.

Let's cut right to the chase about her new literary venture:

1. Tell us a little bit about your book, Magic, Mensa and Mayhem:

It should have been a cushy job: Vern, the dragon detective, and his partner, the mage Sister Grace, are given an all-expense paid trip to Florida to chaperone a group of Magicals at a Mensa convention. Then the pixies start pranking, the Valkyrie starts vamping and a dwarf goes to Billy Beaver's Fantasyland hoping to be "discovered." Environmentalists protest Vern's "disrupting the ecosystem," while clueless tourists think he's animatronic. When the elves get high on artificial flavorings and declare war on Florida, it turns into the toughest case they aren’t getting paid for.

2. Take us through this step by step: What kind of pranks do the pixies do?

Pixies like to play off human fears and misconceptions, so a fire-breathing dragon near a fire alarm was just too much temptation. Where they found the sneezing powder is anybody's guess--probably eBay.

3. And the Vamping Valkyrie?

Aw, Brunhilde was just having a little fun. After millennia of catering to big sweaty men who never brush their teeth, she has an appreciation for skinny, wimpy men with minty-fresh breath.

4. The dwarf getting arrested doesn’t sound fun.

Vern told him not to go off on his own, but he was certain some director would "discover" him right off the streets. You can't blame him for getting mad when the tourists taunted him. Wonder if he'd have had better luck as Disneyland?

5. And the environmentalists?

Vern took a swim in the Gulf of Mexico. Ate a couple of fish. They took umbrage to that. Vern wasn't exactly apologetic about it, either--in fact, "remorseless" fits his reaction to their accusations. "Annoyed" and "eyeroll" cover it, too.

6. Elves get high on artificial flavorings? How does that happen?

Different body chemistry, reacting differently. It's one of the dangers when two worlds suddenly start sharing fluids for entertainment. Frankly, they don't really know much about why or how, just that it does.. However, I'm certain (professor) will get to the bottom of it, once Princess Galinda has a few words with King Daddy.

7. Did Vern have any idea his cushy weekend job of chaperoning the Faerie would end up like this?

He knew. He'd say he's not a pessimist, but a realist who's right more often than not.

8. So, why'd he agree?

Although he's working as a detective in the Mundane world, Vern is under the employ of the Faerie Catholic Church. Where his bishop sends him, he goes. Plus, he knew Grace was interested, and that she could use a break. It turned out to be a very good thing for her. She returned home rested, with some new friends, and an offer to write her book on Sacred music. Vern would do just about anything for her.

9. Will we get to read about more of their adventures?

In fact, you can get one of their early adventures for free! Amateurs is a free download to those who register on www.dragoneyepi.net.

There are also two DragonEye, PI stories: Christmas Spirits and Fern Gullible for sale on the website. www.dragoneyepi.net

Finally, Live and Let Fly comes out later this year from Swimming Kangaroo.

Something Craig didn't mention: He actually submitted one of his stories, a different take on St. Francis, for our earlier anthology, Leaps of Faith. It wasn't right for that book, but I loved it so much, I held onto the story for a year, and when we started looking for ISIG, I asked him if we could use it. That's how good a writer Craig is!